I’m half African American and half Caucasian. However, most people assume that I’m of Hispanic or Cape Verdean descent because I’m light-skinned and have curly hair. They misunderstand my appearance.

Honestly, I find it ignorant how people can be so narrow-minded. Sometimes I’ll be walking down the street and people will just start yelling to me in Spanish (assuming that I speak it too). Or when I first meet someone and they ask, “What is your nationality?” I respond, “My mom is white and my dad is black”, and they look at me like what I said couldn’t be true. I often find myself thinking why. Why does it seem so strange to people that I’m bi-racial? I think the reason is because even though interracial relationships are much more common now than they were in the past, they are still different, and not always accepted. In my opinion, love has no color. If two people are in love, then they have the right to live a life together without receiving strife from others.

I’ve experienced a lot of racist comments from other people because I come from an interracial family. At school, people call me a “panda”, a “mixed-mutt”, an “Oreo”, and a “zebra”. But at this point, I’m used to it. I‘ve learned to ignore it. I like being unique, and I enjoy getting to experience the best of both worlds. I wish people would be more open-minded about my ethnicity, but I understand that I have no control over it. I also know that I can’t allow what others say about me to affect my life. I love who I am and even though my life is in black and white, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

-Kerrin